U.S. Patent Application 2010/0235891 generally discloses a central server for enabling user upload of content such as files containing audio, video, graphical, data, points of interest, and other information from a user device such as a personal computer to the central server over the internet. Upon determining that a trigger event has occurred, communication and processing circuitry in a vehicle device automatically download the previously uploaded content over the internet and a short-range wireless network and store the content for use by a device such as an audio/visual/navigation unit. Examples of a trigger event include proximity to a short-range wireless communication network coupled to the internet, presence within a geofence, turning off a vehicle's engine, or detecting an SMS wake-up message while the vehicle device's main processor, transceivers not used for SMS, and auxiliary circuitry are in sleep mode. The short-range wireless network can be a vehicle owner's home network, or a commercial Wi-Fi hot spot, or subscription wireless service.
U.S. Patent Application 2014/091903 generally discloses a system and method for determining a first proximity status of a first mobile device with respect to a vehicle, and determining a second proximity status of a second mobile device with respect to the vehicle. Additionally, an accessibility of one or more functions of the vehicle may be configured based at least in part on the first proximity status and the second proximity status. In one example, a policy associated with one or more of the first mobile device and the second mobile device may be identified, wherein the accessibility is configured further based on the policy.
U.S. Patent Application 2008/082221 generally discloses a system and method to extract, monitor, analyze, and send data from a vehicle interface module (VIM) coupled to one or more vehicular electronic devices. The system and method may transmit vehicle and geographic location data to a handheld device and forward the data to a web server over a wide area network. The system and method may publish the data for viewing by end users or for programmatic access by software applications.